


Even the wrong Sleekeazy's can do wonders

by ViliFlower



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, F/M, Falling In Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:26:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27715406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViliFlower/pseuds/ViliFlower
Summary: When someone messes up Sirius' hair, things get bad for everyone. But do they this time?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/James Potter
Comments: 7
Kudos: 80





	Even the wrong Sleekeazy's can do wonders

“I’ve never been more thankful in my entire life that I didn’t eat my whole supper, because that look surely would have made me vomit in the Great Hall.” Hermione said, eyeing Harry across the table, with an amused expression plastered on her face. The boy’s in question cheeks got ruby red, but he refused to meet his best friend’s gaze, continuing to look at Draco, who was sitting at the Slytherin table. “Godric, I wish you were more like your brother at times.” she muttered under her breath. 

“Why would that be? He’s been acting normal for the past months, too normal if you were to ask me. Lily isn’t even hexing him anymore.” Harry replied, putting a few slices of treacle tart on his plate, his cheeks a dull shade of red now, a knowing glim into his eyes. 

“What I meant by that is that Ron and I are tired of you and Draco ogling each other everywhere. Just talk to him, Harry. I am sure he won’t bite you… unless you ask, of course.” Hermione made a reach for the newspaper while she looked expectedly at Harry, a small smirk on her face. 

“You’re the one to talk.” Harry snorted. “At least Malfoy isn’t your brother.” 

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Hermione asked, feeling the tips of her ears staring to heat up. 

“Oh, give us a break, ‘Mione.” answered Ron, almost bored, taking the newspaper from her hands. “I honestly don’t know which ogling disturbs me more, Harry’s with Malfoy or yours with James. Maybe, you should follow your own advice for once, ‘Mione.” 

“I have never looked at James… and besides, he liked Lily for…” but before she could finish her sentence, both Harry and Ron raised her eyebrows at her, challenging her to continue. 

“You can deny it all you want, ‘Mione, but James is my brother after all. And speaking of the devil.” Harry’s head turned to look at the open doors, where James was being chased inside the Great Hall by Sirius, whose hair was half blond, half light pink and cut in a mullet fashion. Black’s expression got more and more murderous as he waved his wand towards of his best mate. 

A loud severing charm in the direction of James’ head could be heard across the Hall. Hermione’s wide eyes watched how James stopped dead in his tracks, a big chunk of hair falling gracefully on both his back and the floor. Sirius immediately threw a colour change charm at what was left of James’ hair, changing it from jet black to lime. 

“That’s what you deserve, you little shit.” Sirius said, coming face to face with James who looked like he could strangle his friend at any moment. “And don’t you even dare use the counter-spell. I’ll shave off whatever hair you’ve got left in your sleep if you do, Prongs. And I’ll do it the muggle way.” 

“Mister Black! What is the meaning of this?” McGonagall asked as she raised from her seat at the teachers’ table, now walking towards the two boys. “Fifteen points for language and another fifty for using the severing charm on another student, so close to the vital points. You will both serve detention with me tonight.” 

“But, professor!” Sirius tried pleading with McGonagall. 

“Me? But what have I done?” asked James in an indignant tone. 

“You are Head Boy, Potter. I expected better from you, not running riot in the Great Hall. You should have stopped Black before the situation even took this turn of events.” McGonagall sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Six o’clock at my office.” 

Sirius pouted and started moving towards the empty seat next to Hermione before he heard McGonagall speak again. “Oh, and… Marvellous non-verbal use of charms, Mister Black. You will get twenty points for that. You may join your friends at the table now.” The professor turned on her heel and made her way towards the teachers again. 

Sirius took his seat and started filling his plate, not even bothering looking around himself. James was still in the middle of the Hall, looking dumbfounded. Harry started laughing, removing his eyeglasses and rubbing his eyes while Hermione gave an odd look to Sirius’ hair. 

“What the hell just happened?” Ron asked trying to get Sirius to look at him, but the latter merely ignored the ginger. “Come on, mate! Your hair might be hideous, but you can still talk.” 

“I’ll shrink you, Weasley, if you keep on pestering me.” warned Sirius. 

“Good job, James. Whatever you did, it’s working. I’ve never seen Sirius being so likeable for five minutes straight.” Hermione said, breaking James out of his reverie. He looked at her, a small smile playing on his lips as he reached for the seat next to his brother. 

“Not my doing. Every time Minnie gives him detention he becomes a good boy. Right, Pads?” Sirius snorted at this but didn’t look up from his plate. “Listen, mate. I really didn’t know you were going to use that bottle of Sleekeazy, fine?” 

“Wait, he used _the bottle_?” Harry asked with a chuckle. “You didn’t tell him that it was a prototype of dad’s?” 

“Well, how could I when he started shouting and chasing me around Hogwarts like a madman? You got me in detention, Padfoot. I’m Head Boy for Merlin’s sake.” 

“Maybe if you labelled the bottle, it wouldn’t have happened.” Sirius growled. 

“Maybe you shouldn’t have gone through my stuff, you prick.” James continued hotly. 

“Why? Were you afraid that I’d read your love letters for Her…” 

“I dare you to finish that sentence. Come on.” James’s eyes got utterly dark. 

There was a sudden silence at the table and Harry, Ron and Hermione felt as if they shouldn’t be there at the moment. James stabbed the chicken pie that was on his plate as if it were the one that got him in detention and not Sirius. 

“I’ll sort it out, Pads. And if I don’t, I’ll shave my head with you. We’ll rock the buzz look.” said James after a while. 

“You know what? I’ll have Moony cut my hair tonight if you have the balls to do it too, Prongs. No more owling your father and we can pour the bottle directly onto Snivellus’ head after.” Sirius added lightly, looking up from his plate. 

“You’ve got yourself a deal.” James’ smirk grew wider and wider until he locked eyes with Hermione. “How about you take care of my hair tonight as well, ‘Mione?” 

Hermione felt like her lungs ran out of air to breathe. Her heart was beating like crazy and she was sure that if she looked at herself in the mirror right now, all she would be seeing was a tomato. A few seconds have passed but she didn’t dare look elsewhere except James’ eyes. She tried to gather up her courage before trying to speak as clearly as she could. 

“Of… of course, James. But I’ll have you know that I’ve never done it before.” 

“It’s fine, ‘Mione. You don’t need a lot of experience to do a great job.” James winked at her and from the corner of Hermione’s eye, she could see Sirius hiding a smirk. “How about we do this after Sirius and I finish our detention? It won’t take long anyways.” 

“Okay. Then I’d better get going. I need to finish up my History of Magic essay. I’ll see the lot of you later.” After Hermione picked up her bag, she gave a sympathetic smile to James looking at his hair while waving at the others and headed for the library. 

The witch felt her heart double in size just by thinking of James’ proposal in the Great Hall. They did talk on occasion, but it was never anything too serious, or at least, that was what she told herself. Looking back at what Harry and Ron had just told her at the table, Hermione didn’t exactly know if James was trying to give her a sign. She saw that Lily wasn’t his prime interest anymore, but a little voice inside her head told Hermione not to get her hopes up. 

However, the aspect that intrigued her more was James’ love letters. While she was working on the final bits of her essay, Hermione couldn’t help but wonder for whom they were destined to. Could they be still written for Lily? Did James write them when he was still chasing after the Head Girl? Or were they recent? Recent enough that maybe, just maybe they could contain a small detail that would make Hermione’s heart flutter. 

Just as Hermione finished writing the last sentence on her parchment, James appeared in front of her table, leaning on his hands and looking expectedly at her. 

“I knew I’d find you here” the marauder said with a laugh. 

“It’s not like I told you I would be here.” Hermione laughed too, her cheeks a bit red. “How come you’ve finished your detention so early?” 

“It’s seven o’clock, ‘Mione. We were done in less than an hour. McGonagall made us clean up all the teapots in her class. She’d let us use magic, so it didn’t take that much time. Apparently, the elves used the ones McGonagall had in order to make some kind of tea for a few Hufflepuf fifth years.” James got Hermione’s bag onto his shoulder after she finished packing up and ignored her protests when she tried to tell him that she could carry her own bag. 

“What kind of tea?” Hermione asked once they were out the library door. 

“No clue, but McGonagall was so pissed when we got there that she didn’t even care about how we cleaned her pots.” James laughed. “I think she found out about it right before we arrived. It must have been really bad, though. She left immediately, mumbling something about how those Hufflepuffs are going to scrub floors for the rest of the year.” 

“So not only were they making something illegal with that tea, but also taking advantage of the poor elves. If I find out who they are, I am going to… ” 

“Easy, Hermione. Don’t make me put you in detention for your recklessness.” James winked at her. 

“You’re very funny. Has anyone told you that?” 

“Everyday, actually. Too bad it’s Wormtail the one who tells me.” 

When the pair finally made it to the Gryffindor common room, they were greeted by Sirius, Remus and Peter who were all standing in front of the crackling fire. Remus had a book open on his lap and was listening to what his two friends were discussing. When the boys took notice of the missing Marauder and his shorter counterpart, they greeted them both and gestured for James to take a seat next to Sirius. Hermione left her bag next to the couch and looked up at Remus who handed her his book. 

“Before we’re getting started, I figured you’d want to cast an eye over some spells, this one in particular. It’s about giving the hair an even look.” the werewolf smiled at Hermione, moving to stand behind Sirius who was now laughing with James, their fight in the Great Hall already forgotten. 

“Thanks, Remus. I’ll read it quickly and be done with it. They seem way too enthusiastic to be almost bald, especially Sirius.” Hermione commented. 

“He probably thinks that Marlene will be impressed enough to take him back just because he’s getting a haircut.” Peter added. 

“It’s not just a haircut, Wormtail. It’s my true love we’re talking about here.” Sirius turned to look at Peter offended. 

“Who? Your hair or Marlene?” Hermione asked as she listened how Sirius scoffed. “We’ll start in a moment, James. Just let me see what is this all about.” 

As Hermione sat next to the couch, crossing her legs in front of her, she started perusing the section Remus indicated. James looked at the girl next to him, standing on the floor and smiled at how she would lightly touch her hair, getting it out from her eyes and wishing he would be the one to do that for her. The animagus didn’t realize he was staring until Hermione looked up at him, her cheeks catching a dusty shade of red. 

“Ok, Remus. Let’s begin, shall we?” Hermione asked once she was up on her feet, trying to run away from her thoughts about the reason why James might have looked at her so intensely. 

Behind them, a large group of Gryffindors girls formed, watching how two of the most attractive boys in Hogwarts were going to get a haircut, as if it were the biggest event of the year. Hermione sighed at the scene and proceeded to ask Remus about which charms he thought would work best. 

When Remus transfigured his book into a pair of scissors, Sirius whimpered and grabbed James’ hand, while his friend slapped it away. Hermione laughed and got herself the needed metal utensil while with one hand she touched James’ soft hair. At a first glance, one would think that the unruly hair of the animagus would be rough, but when Hermione’s fingers came into contact with what was situated on James’ head, she got tingles all over her body, thinking about how it would be to tug at it while he started kissing down on her neck, nibbling at the sensitive skin. Then, he would get lower and lower until he would reach her breasts. His hands would get rid of her bra and they would start tugging lightly on her nipples. A low moan escaped her lips and she suddenly snapped out of her reverie, starting to cut what was left of James’ hair, hoping no one heard what left her mouth. Hermione and Remus finished both with the scissors, leaving the boys’ heads with a few uneven patches from place to place. 

“Aequalare!” Hermione murmured towards James’ scalp and in a split second, the Marauder’s hair took the even length of the shortest strand on his head, getting the look of a buzz cut. With a few more spells to make his hair shinier and return to his original colour, both Hermione and Remus were done. They transfigured their scissors into a pair of mirrors and handed them to Sirius and James who were more than eager to see the result. 

Hermione knew James has always looked good, but seeing him with his hair like that, she couldn’t help herself but notice the alure of sexiness this boy was emitting from all of his pores. 

“What do you think, ‘Mione?” James asked, getting her attention. She blushed furiously and averted her eyes, gazing towards the fire. “You don’t like it?” 

“It’s… I just think you look better like this.” Hermione opened her mouth and after a short break, she added. “It suits you, James.” 

They locked eyes and a jolt of electricity went through the witch’s body, feeling how James’ eyes were scanning her up and down. 

“We need to talk.”


End file.
